Reflection - AASL Standard 1.1: Efficient and ethical information-seeking behavior As a fifth grade teacher five years ago, a colleague of mine introduced me to the Big6 Research Model. I used this model with my fifth grade students on several research projects and found it to be an effective tool to guide them through the research process. So when I became the media specialist at our school four years ago, I used the Big6 as a tool for building information literacy skills with students in grades 3 – 5. In addition, I also began using the simplified version of this process called the Super3 with students in grades K-2.
Throughout our graduate courses instructors have introduced us to other research models, and other members of our cohort have discussed methods they have used on Blackboard. Some research models that have been mentioned are the ORM model designed by Baltimore County Public Schools, IIM Research Model and the Five E’s are just a few. Upon exploring these models and various other models, I keep coming back to the Big6 and Super3 due to the main fact that I feel that this process lends itself to teaching all aspects of efficient and ethical information seeking behavior.
By using this process and teaching the various mini lessons, I feel that I am able to teach them necessary research skills while instructing them on fair use, copyright and how to create a bibliography. In addition to these skills, the process also teaches students to reflect upon their own learning. By developing skills that allows them to become independent learners and practicing self reflection strategies is what allows students to develop into lifelong learners. In fact when I introduce the students to the Big6 or Super 3 Process, I explain that they can use this process for everyday problem solving as well as research, and that it will assist them as they move onto middle school, high school, college, and in even in their future careers.
The artifacts that I have chosen for Standard 1.1 are a third grade collaborative lesson plan for an African American Research Project and a collaborative pre-k lesson plan that involves the use of the Super3 Process. Both of the lessons were done with all students in both grade levels at our school. Even though the students were at various levels of learning in each grade level, they were able to follow the steps throughout each part of the process. Students were also engaged, excited and motivated throughout the project time frames.
For third grade project, the hardest part was reading for information since some of the students were at various reading levels and had IEP’s. During this part of the process I relied on the assistance of student experts to assist these students as well as the classroom teachers. Since I assigned them partners that were based on combining skill levels, they seemed to do ok with the written part of the assignment. The students had a choice of completing an acrostic poem using PowerPoint or do a podcast in an interview format. I have attached a student sample of one of the acrostic poems as an artifact for this standard. Additional instruction did need to be given to those students who were doing the podcast, since many of them had never written a script for an interview prior to this project.
The pre-k lesson was done with the students towards the end of the year so that they were more able to follow along with the reading and would be able to complete the worksheet independently. This was discussed with the pre-k teacher prior to the implementation of the lesson and upon evaluating the work of the students. Some suggestions were made to altering the worksheet for the next time it is used with pre-k to meet the needs of the students as emergent readers.
Many of the lessons that I have done using the Big6 and Super3,I have used for several years, and constantly find the need to adjust the forms as well as mini lessons based on student needs. In addition, I have also acquired many print resources for our library on the student reading levels, so that the students could work toward becoming independent learners.
Besides the addition of print resources to the library, I have also had to adjust the usage of non print resources and websites that the students have used over the past couple of years to meet county policies. For example, up until last year our county had allowed students in grades 3-5 to access Google. But after several discussions at county level tech meetings it was decided that this access would not be allowed for two main reasons: to protect the students from seeing inappropriate images, and to have the students use other resources such as the student data bases and fair use websites in order to comply with county policies in regards to copyright. Even though I agree with certain aspects of this decision, I have to wonder if we are doing the right thing by censoring the use of Google for elementary students. This seems to defeat the purpose of teaching the students proper and ethical use of the internet.
In conclusion, as a media specialist it is important that we remain flexible when teaching information literacy skills. New resources are becoming available on the internet on a daily basis. In addition, proper and fair use of such resources is also constantly changing. We need to make sure that as media specialist and the information experts in our schools that we stay abreast of these changes. This way we are providing our students, staff and community of learners with the most up to date access and use of information.
As a fifth grade teacher five years ago, a colleague of mine introduced me to the Big6 Research Model. I used this model with my fifth grade students on several research projects and found it to be an effective tool to guide them through the research process. So when I became the media specialist at our school four years ago, I used the Big6 as a tool for building information literacy skills with students in grades 3 – 5. In addition, I also began using the simplified version of this process called the Super3 with students in grades K-2.
Throughout our graduate courses instructors have introduced us to other research models, and other members of our cohort have discussed methods they have used on Blackboard. Some research models that have been mentioned are the ORM model designed by Baltimore County Public Schools, IIM Research Model and the Five E’s are just a few. Upon exploring these models and various other models, I keep coming back to the Big6 and Super3 due to the main fact that I feel that this process lends itself to teaching all aspects of efficient and ethical information seeking behavior.
By using this process and teaching the various mini lessons, I feel that I am able to teach them necessary research skills while instructing them on fair use, copyright and how to create a bibliography. In addition to these skills, the process also teaches students to reflect upon their own learning. By developing skills that allows them to become independent learners and practicing self reflection strategies is what allows students to develop into lifelong learners. In fact when I introduce the students to the Big6 or Super 3 Process, I explain that they can use this process for everyday problem solving as well as research, and that it will assist them as they move onto middle school, high school, college, and in even in their future careers.
The artifacts that I have chosen for Standard 1.1 are a third grade collaborative lesson plan for an African American Research Project and a collaborative pre-k lesson plan that involves the use of the Super3 Process. Both of the lessons were done with all students in both grade levels at our school. Even though the students were at various levels of learning in each grade level, they were able to follow the steps throughout each part of the process. Students were also engaged, excited and motivated throughout the project time frames.
For third grade project, the hardest part was reading for information since some of the students were at various reading levels and had IEP’s. During this part of the process I relied on the assistance of student experts to assist these students as well as the classroom teachers. Since I assigned them partners that were based on combining skill levels, they seemed to do ok with the written part of the assignment. The students had a choice of completing an acrostic poem using PowerPoint or do a podcast in an interview format. I have attached a student sample of one of the acrostic poems as an artifact for this standard. Additional instruction did need to be given to those students who were doing the podcast, since many of them had never written a script for an interview prior to this project.
The pre-k lesson was done with the students towards the end of the year so that they were more able to follow along with the reading and would be able to complete the worksheet independently. This was discussed with the pre-k teacher prior to the implementation of the lesson and upon evaluating the work of the students. Some suggestions were made to altering the worksheet for the next time it is used with pre-k to meet the needs of the students as emergent readers.
Many of the lessons that I have done using the Big6 and Super3,I have used for several years, and constantly find the need to adjust the forms as well as mini lessons based on student needs. In addition, I have also acquired many print resources for our library on the student reading levels, so that the students could work toward becoming independent learners.
Besides the addition of print resources to the library, I have also had to adjust the usage of non print resources and websites that the students have used over the past couple of years to meet county policies. For example, up until last year our county had allowed students in grades 3-5 to access Google. But after several discussions at county level tech meetings it was decided that this access would not be allowed for two main reasons: to protect the students from seeing inappropriate images, and to have the students use other resources such as the student data bases and fair use websites in order to comply with county policies in regards to copyright. Even though I agree with certain aspects of this decision, I have to wonder if we are doing the right thing by censoring the use of Google for elementary students. This seems to defeat the purpose of teaching the students proper and ethical use of the internet.
In conclusion, as a media specialist it is important that we remain flexible when teaching information literacy skills. New resources are becoming available on the internet on a daily basis. In addition, proper and fair use of such resources is also constantly changing. We need to make sure that as media specialist and the information experts in our schools that we stay abreast of these changes. This way we are providing our students, staff and community of learners with the most up to date access and use of information.